Royalty Free standardization -The Pro-Competitive Solution in Public Procurement of ICT?
(2014) JURM02 20142Department of Law
- Abstract
- The Commission’s decision to utilize FRAND as the Union’s premiere IPR licensing form in ICT standardization has sparked a debate among policy makers and stakeholders in the software industry regarding which licensing form is best suited for interoperability software standards in public procurement. Several voices from within the ICT industry as well as public authorities have openly supported the use of a royalty-free (RF) requirement for interoperability standards as being the more adapt option for the task at hand; to create interoperability and promote innovation and competition. This raises the question; which licensing approach would be better from a Competition Law perspective?
The intention of this thesis and its research is to... (More) - The Commission’s decision to utilize FRAND as the Union’s premiere IPR licensing form in ICT standardization has sparked a debate among policy makers and stakeholders in the software industry regarding which licensing form is best suited for interoperability software standards in public procurement. Several voices from within the ICT industry as well as public authorities have openly supported the use of a royalty-free (RF) requirement for interoperability standards as being the more adapt option for the task at hand; to create interoperability and promote innovation and competition. This raises the question; which licensing approach would be better from a Competition Law perspective?
The intention of this thesis and its research is to find the answer to that question through investigating whether or not a restriction in the form of a RF requirement in Article 13 of Regulation 1025/2012 would fulfill the four cumulative conditions in Article 101(3) TFEU and thus be considered pro-competitive. The four conditions are that the restriction produces “efficiencies”, that the consumer receives their “fair share” of those efficiencies, that there is an “indispensability of the restriction” and that the restriction doesn’t allow “elimination of competition”.
For these conditions to be fulfilled in the relative context several factors need to be considered, such as technological and economical aspects of using RF or FRAND technologies, the status of the different relevant software markets and the situation regarding ICT procurement in different Stated within the Union. The investigation is focused on how these technical and economic aspects meet with the legal demands in EU law.
This thesis makes the argument that based on the unique qualities of the interoperability software industry in combination with the current situation in public ICT procurement and the objectives of European standardization, such a RF requirement that is discussed in this thesis would be considered as pro-competitive and consequently the more adapt solution for interoperability standardization. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Europeiska kommissionens beslut att använda sig av FRAND som den primära immaterialrättlsiga licensformen för teknologi inom IT standardisering har legat till grund för en debatt mellan beslutsfattare och intressenter inom mjukvaruindustrin angående vilken lisensform som bäst uppfyller målsättningarna med standardisering av interoperabilitet mjukvaror för offentlig upphandling. Flera inom IT industrin så väl som offentliga myndigheter har öppet stöttat royalty free (RF) tvång för interoperabilitet standarder som den mer optimala lösningen för dem föreliggande målsättningarna; att skapa interoperabilitet samt främja innovation och konkurrens. Detta leder till frågan, vilken av dessa två lisensformer är mest fördelaktig från ett... (More)
- Europeiska kommissionens beslut att använda sig av FRAND som den primära immaterialrättlsiga licensformen för teknologi inom IT standardisering har legat till grund för en debatt mellan beslutsfattare och intressenter inom mjukvaruindustrin angående vilken lisensform som bäst uppfyller målsättningarna med standardisering av interoperabilitet mjukvaror för offentlig upphandling. Flera inom IT industrin så väl som offentliga myndigheter har öppet stöttat royalty free (RF) tvång för interoperabilitet standarder som den mer optimala lösningen för dem föreliggande målsättningarna; att skapa interoperabilitet samt främja innovation och konkurrens. Detta leder till frågan, vilken av dessa två lisensformer är mest fördelaktig från ett konkurrensrättsligt perspektiv?
Denna uppsats intention samt målsättningen med dess undersökning är att finna svaret på den frågan genom att utreda ifall en restriktion i form av ett RF tvång i artikel 13 i Regulation 1025/2012 skulle uppfylla dem fyra kumulativa kraven i artikel 101(3) TFEU och då anses som positivt utifrån ett konkurrensrättsligt perspektiv. Dessa fyra krav är att restriktionen producerar ”effektivitetsvinster”, att konsumenterna får en ”skälig del” av dessa effektivitetsvinster, att restriktionen är ”nödvändig” för realisationen av effektivitetsvinsterna samt att restriktionen inte ger möjlighet till att ”eliminera konkurrens”.
För att dessa krav ska vara uppfyllda i det relevanta sammanhanget så måste flera faktorer beaktas, så som tekniska och ekonomiska aspekter av användandet av RF eller FRAND teknologier, statusen på dem relevanta marknaderna och situation gällande offentlig IT upphandling hos EUs medlemsstater. Undersökning fokuserar på hur dessa tekniska och ekonomiska aspekter korrelerar med dem juridiska kraven inom EU rätten.
Denna uppsats argumenterar för att baserat på interoperabilitet mjukvaruindustrins unika karaktär i kombination med den föreliggande situationen inom offentlig upphandling av IT och målsättningen med EU standardiseringen så skulle ett sådant RF krav som undersökts i denna uppsats ses som konkurrensrättsligt fördelaktigt och följaktligen den mest gynnsamma lösningen för interoperabilitet standarder. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4925174
- author
- Grip, Fredrik LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20142
- year
- 2014
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Standards, Competition law, software interoperability, IPR
- language
- English
- id
- 4925174
- date added to LUP
- 2015-02-04 10:27:38
- date last changed
- 2015-02-04 10:27:38
@misc{4925174,
abstract = {{The Commission’s decision to utilize FRAND as the Union’s premiere IPR licensing form in ICT standardization has sparked a debate among policy makers and stakeholders in the software industry regarding which licensing form is best suited for interoperability software standards in public procurement. Several voices from within the ICT industry as well as public authorities have openly supported the use of a royalty-free (RF) requirement for interoperability standards as being the more adapt option for the task at hand; to create interoperability and promote innovation and competition. This raises the question; which licensing approach would be better from a Competition Law perspective?
The intention of this thesis and its research is to find the answer to that question through investigating whether or not a restriction in the form of a RF requirement in Article 13 of Regulation 1025/2012 would fulfill the four cumulative conditions in Article 101(3) TFEU and thus be considered pro-competitive. The four conditions are that the restriction produces “efficiencies”, that the consumer receives their “fair share” of those efficiencies, that there is an “indispensability of the restriction” and that the restriction doesn’t allow “elimination of competition”.
For these conditions to be fulfilled in the relative context several factors need to be considered, such as technological and economical aspects of using RF or FRAND technologies, the status of the different relevant software markets and the situation regarding ICT procurement in different Stated within the Union. The investigation is focused on how these technical and economic aspects meet with the legal demands in EU law.
This thesis makes the argument that based on the unique qualities of the interoperability software industry in combination with the current situation in public ICT procurement and the objectives of European standardization, such a RF requirement that is discussed in this thesis would be considered as pro-competitive and consequently the more adapt solution for interoperability standardization.}},
author = {{Grip, Fredrik}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Royalty Free standardization -The Pro-Competitive Solution in Public Procurement of ICT?}},
year = {{2014}},
}